“It’s a huge step up” - Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida believes he’s facing Kirill Grishenko at the right time

Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida will continue to work his way up the heavyweight ladder on August 26th as part of the stacked lineup for ONE on Prime Video 1. There, he will meet Belarus’ Kirill Grishenko.

Coming off of a loss to current interim heavyweight world champion Anatoly Malykhin, Grishenko is intent on giving Almeida his first loss in mixed martial arts.

For Almeida, it will be his toughest test yet. Grishenko is a well-rounded fighter with solid standup and the ability to hold his own on the mat. Speaking to ONE Championship, ‘Buchecha’ believes his bout with Grishenko is a big step up in competition but also notes that the two have a lot of similarities.

“Yeah, it’s a huge step up. But I don’t like to think like that. When I made my debut in ONE, Kirill was doing his debut at the same time, so we had the same amount of time in the house, right?”

Almeida elaborated on his comment, saying:

“He has three fights in ONE. I got three, going for my fourth one. Before that, he didn’t have much experience in MMA, so I think it’s fair.”

As it stands, Almeida will be making his fourth appearance in mixed martial arts. It will also be Grishenko’s fourth appearance under the ONE banner, but it will be his seventh fight overall, giving the Belarusian a slight edge in MMA experience.

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‘Buchecha’ is excited to test his skills against another wrestler

With 17 world championships and 138 submission grappling wins to his credit, Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida is as dangerous as they come on the canvas. His BJJ skills have allowed him to put away his first three opponents in the opening round with an average fight time of just over two and a half minutes.

So far, nobody in the ONE circle has been able to compete with Almeida on the ground, but that could change on August 26th when he meets Kirill Grishenko.

An accomplished wrestler in his own right, Grishenko could be the first fighter to give Almeida a run for his money should the fight hit the ground. Of course, ‘Buchecha’ welcomes the challenge of facing another wrestler. Speaking to ONE Championship, Almeida said:

“[Grishenko is] a great fighter with a lot of experience in his wrestling background. So, it’s going to be a really interesting one because it’s going to be the first wrestler that I will fight. If I [want to] get the belt one day I need to pass all the tests so he’s going to be a huge one, and I’m excited.”

Check out the highlights of 'Buchecha's last bout below: